MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

1/4 Cotts to Pirates; Sheets to Cubs?

The Pirates agreed to terms Monday on a Minor League contract with Neal Cotts, who is coming off Tommy John surgery in July. Cotts appeared in 19 games with the Cubs in 2009, his third season with the team. He never did match his 2005 numbers when he posted a 1.94 ERA in 69 games with the White Sox. The left-hander was the only arbitration eligible player who was non-tendered by the Cubs.

Cotts blew a save May 25 against the Pirates, and was sent down to Triple-A Iowa after that. He appeared in 12 games and had a 2.84 ERA before he was sidelined. Cotts moved his family to Arizona so he could focus on his rehab.

“I enjoy it over here and I’ve enjoyed the organization,” Cotts told me in an interview in October in Mesa, Ariz. “I know in terms of performance and in terms of staying up there, it hasn’t been as planned for by either side. I’d like to be up there to help the team.”

Now, he’ll be trying to make the roster of one of the Cubs’ division rivals.

* Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports predicts the Cubs will sign free agent Ben Sheets, who missed all of last season recovering from elbow surgery. Rosenthal says teams may need to see Sheets throw before deciding whether to make an investment in the right-hander. He was 13-9 in 31 starts in 2008 with the Brewers.

Why not sign Sheets,if the price is right. We paid for Prior,Fox and Dempster to rehab and see if they could rebound from their ailments. Sheets intriques me especially because he’s something Zambrano is not,,an ACE if healthy.

Not to mention the extra incentive he may have in giving it back to the Brewers…same division, two “home fields”…this may very well be a good thing. YIKES!!! Am I actually on board with Hendry on something?? Why, I don’t know what to do…somebody….please…help….

Take a deep breath Joeydafish it’s gonna be okay. Hendry doesn’t screw up all the time. Derek Lee, Ted Lily, Rich Harden, Aramis Ramirez, Mark Derosa(until he let him go for nothing and brought in milty), Eric karros, Mark Grudzielanak, Dempster, and hopefully Rudy Jaramillo works out real well. I don’t think the cubs have enough left in the budget to get Sheets though.

Pman, that is what worries me. At the very least, the Soriano 8 year contract, the Bradley 3 year contract and now the Byrd 3 year contract CERTIFIES Hendry AS CRAZY.
So, if there is a GM out there crazy enough to sign Sheets to a 2 or more year deal it would be our clueless leader.
IF Hendrycan manage to sign Sheets to a one year contract
I will give him props. Maybe Sheets would want that so he can “prove” his value for a long term contract beginning with the 2011 season with another team such as the Yankees, RedSox etc. that have more competant GM’s and a much better chance of getting in the World Series than Hendry’s over-rated Cubs? Wouldn’t if have made more sense to go with a young centerfielder that can at least play solid defensce (Fuld?) and save the MILLIONS spent on Byrd allowing Hendry to put it toward the starting rotation which is not as solid as a lot of people think?

Joeydafish, I also would have rather seen Fuld playing center with Reed backing him up and seen the Cubs pick up a 2nd basemen to bolster the offense a bit. Knowing that Jaramillo strongly supports Byrd gives me a measure of confidence in Byrd, but it also makes me worry a little about Jaramillo. I don’t think the Cubs are overrated assuming you aren’t referring to those who think they are supposed to win the World Series next year. Most people feel that if this team stays healthy they should make the playoffs next year and win 90 or more games. Past that, I would be pleasantly surprised. I also would like to see another solid starter and/or right handed reliever. I believe a healthy Sheets would put the rotation over the top as far as a pennant contending team goes. He might even show big Z how to be an ace.

Pman, yes i think the Cubs in general have been overated the past few “over .500/play-off appearance” seasons by the media as they predicted penants if not world series appearances. BUT, what I meant to convey is that Hendry himself is the biggest culprit when coming to overating his own team. Such as the 2009 team: Soriano LF, overated by Hendry and remains a huge albatross, Fukodome, overated by Hendry and remains a big dissapointment, Fontenot overated by Hendry and remains a role player, Zambrano, overated by Hendry and Hendry signed him panicking as if he is about to lose the next Cy Young, he reamains the starting staff’s biggest dissapointment, Bradley, Miles, Heillman…Oh My God, do I even need to comment?, those are some examples, combine those with Hendry’s UNDEREVALUATING the roles of DeRosa and Blanco it all adds up to Hendry’s overated team. Not to mention he underestimated the value of Theriot during the Cesar Izturis/Nefi Perez era, and for 2010 he has again over-rated the center field position in Marlon Byrd. I by no means am saying Byrd is either bad or one of Hendry’s bad acquisitions but Bryd is by far not a tremendous upgrade over Fuld (in fact he is a down grade defensively) and locking him up for 3 years is just clogging up the system and tying the hands of future managers (Sandberg?) and general managers (ANYBODY). If hendry thinks his 2010 team can compete for a PENANT let alone a World Series run he, like all of us is relying on luck more so than talent.

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